A Curious Case of Elevated Left Diaphragm

Objective: To describe a case series of patients at risk of acute respiratory failure, who were managed with Heliox. Methods: A descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study about the use of heliox in pediatric patients at risk of respiratory acute failure, admitted to the pediatric health center ?Hospital Infantil Napole?n Franco Pareja? from Cartagena, Colombia. Differences in categorical variables were analyzed by chi-square or Fisher exact test. Results: Fifty two patients were included. The mean age was 21.2?56 months. The two most frequent diagnoses were status asthmaticus (38.5%) and acute bronchiolitis (26.9%). Success of heliox therapy was 76.9%. The route of administration was not related to the type of response. The duration of heliox therapy was in average 5.9 hours (SD?4.1), in patients who did not respond favorably to heliox, and 8.0 hours (SD?5.6) in those who did respond. Conclusion: A high success rate with heliox therapy was found in this case series. Its use is recommended as an adjunct therapy in the management of acute respiratory insufficiency.